Please support Trump to save US

Mark Steffen is a former Edgewood city councilman, father and grandfather.

To John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio: I know you’re all disappointed in not being the Republican nominee for president and that you don’t see eye to eye with Donald Trump on many topics. However, all of you signed a pledge to support the nominee because we could not allow Hillary Clinton to become president. Given recent events, that is now more true than ever, and the fact is Trump is the only thing standing between us and a Clinton presidency.

I’m asking you to put aside your differences and do whatever you can do to help elect Trump in November. I’m asking because as you yourselves have said, our country cannot endure another four to eight years of the policies we’ve suffered through since 2008. Since taking office, President Barack Obama and Clinton have done great damage to our nation, more than most people realize.

Here are five critical areas where America has suffered under Obama and why I’m asking for your help:

The economy. Obama will go down in history as the fourth-worst president in terms of GDP growth. The economy has averaged 1.55 percent growth per year, and he will become the only president to complete a full term without a single year of GDP growth of at least 3 percent.

The judiciary. Obama has appointed two liberal ideologues to the Supreme Court. If Clinton is elected, she will appoint at least one justice, possibly more, and will tip the balance to the left for years to come. Our Constitution, Bill of Rights and all the things that made this country great will be largely ignored and diminished with her as president.

The military. Our Army’s manpower is down 10 percent, our Navy is aging and inadequate to meet current needs, the Marines have only about two-thirds the number of battalions they usually field and our Air Force is the smallest and oldest in its history. Obama cut all ballistic missile programs and, to appease Russia, stopped missile defense systems in Europe. Clinton has pledged not to increase military spending.

Health care. The Obamacare exchange in Ohio just became the 13th to close, like those before it collapsing due to unsustainable costs. We were promised $2,400 a year per family in savings, but just the opposite has happened. Since Obamacare was instituted, deductibles have gone up dramatically. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, deductibles increased 67 percent between 2010 and 2015. Worse yet, with Obamacare in place, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2025, premiums will rise an additional 60 percent.

National security. After 9/11, while conducting an aggressive war against radical Islam, there were no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil through 2008. Since Obama and Clinton took over national security, we’ve had attacks in Little Rock, Arkansas; Fort Hood, Texas; Moore, Oklahoma; Brooklyn, New York; Garland, Texas; Chattanooga, Tennessee; San Bernardino, California; and Orlando, Florida. Nearly 100 Americans brutally murdered on U.S. soil. Around the world, the number of terrorism deaths since Obama took office has quadrupled. Clinton was involved in our foreign policy in Syria and in Iraq, which helped create Islamic State.

This isn’t about you, or me or even Trump. It’s about what this country will look like for my grandson 20 or 30 years from now, and for the millions of other grandsons and granddaughters. It’s about passing on to them a country as great as the one we we were blessed to inherit.

You all said you wanted to help lead this nation back. Here’s your chance.